“Observe the masses and do the opposite.” – Walt Disney For the last twenty-five years, the most successful example of a Solopreneur has been only one name: Tony Robbins. But when Tony started out in the mid-1980s, the ‘healers’ industry in America was already choc-a-block with thousands of life-coaches jostling for space. It would have been well-nigh impossible for Tony to make his mark in such a red ocean. What Tony did instead is still considered legendary. He appeared on a Canadian radio channel and openly challenged all the psychologists of the world:
“All the psychologists of the world are frauds. In just 30 minutes, I can cure any patient suffering from acute-depression that these ‘experts’ can’t cure in even 3 years.
These people may have a PhD in psychology. I bloody don’t care. I have a PhD in results.”
This one statement made Tony the most successful Solopreneur of the modern era. Tony has impacted millions of people across more than a hundred nationalities and created an unparalleled fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars for himself. If Tony Robbins had not taken this rebel stand, he would have been just another NLP practitioner in the US.
People buy into your persona as much as into your solution.
The starting point to make someone a raving fanatic must be to share your rebellious beliefs. I am sharing 15 of my beliefs to illustrate
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how I have positioned myself (the paragraphs below truly epitomize my spirit). After reading the points below, please write some such points about yourself (whatever you believe in).
1. Death to all sacred cows! Sacred cows make the best burgers.
I have slain all my sacred cows and made the best burgers out of them.
2. I don’t work with my best interests in mind; I work with your best interests in mind. Your success is my success. I have an extremely firm belief that if you spend enough time with me, I can change your life. Completely!
3. I want a piece of your mind, not a pound of your flesh:
Inherited attributes (physical characteristics, body, looks, skin color, nationality, family background, or inherited wealth) don’t excite me. I am interested in something that you didn’t inherit in your DNA, something that you acquired after coming into this world (and that’s why it is absolutely different, absolutely unique, absolutely you); that thing is your mind. I would be more excited by something that lies outside your résumé.
More than 99% of the information that people write in their résumés is not unique; someone somewhere will have the same attributes. The best thing I can learn from you is your unique perspectives. And even a Harvard education can’t make anyone unique; the same education is shared by thousands of others every year. The only thing unique about you is your perspectives—your convictions, your quirks, your take on life, your thought process, your boldness, your understanding of life from your own lens, your successes and failures, your strengths and weaknesses, your flairs and foibles, your idea of craziness and irrationality, your hobbies and interests, your ecstatic and sad moments, your way of having fun, and everything that makes your persona unique.
All I want to do is pick your mind, listen to your unique perspectives, and keep learning. I love to keep myself in
“permanent beta”. For me, ‘finished’ is an F-word.
139 4. My most fundamental belief: When everyone zigs, you should
zag. Nobody else around the world offers any such programs as I offer. I believe in absolutely unique success-templates.
The usual, risk-free, tried-and-tested, and run-of-the-mill (copied) models never excite me. If anyone, anywhere in the world, has already done what I have thought of doing, either I simply bail out or I try to be absolutely unprecedented in the way it is done. That is my Purple Cow. Consequently, I have always enjoyed a competition-free market.
5. Impact has always been my muse. Everything that I say or do must create impact. And to create an impact, I must have the deepest convictions about whatever I do. Trying out different business ventures has always given me the necessary kick, adrenaline, and fun. I have never bothered much about the end result. I have never been in any profession that is not an extension of my core persona. If you make your profession an extension of your persona—
the amalgamation of your convictions, your belief-system, your deepest passions, and your best skills—the typical byproducts of your passion (money, fame, and success) will start chasing you like a speeding bullet with your name chiseled all over it.
6. I don’t respect anyone just because of their age, lineage, pedigree, or background. I respect people for what they personally stand for. I refute the silly idea touted so blatantly in India: that a person’s age has anything to do with their maturity levels. I have had great friendships/relationships with people half my age and I have met jackasses twice my age. I can’t respect anyone just because they’re older. Also, if there is one breed of people that needs the most education in India, it’s parents. The right parenting is sorely missing from our society.
7. I am not patriotic. I believe that the best reflection of a society’s progress is the completely unquestioned freedom (of all kinds) that women can enjoy without being
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answerable or branded; for India, the less said, the better.
8. I don’t believe in the idea of competition. I compete only with myself and not with the whole world. I don’t want to be better than my competition; I just want to be better than my current self. I love to raise the bar in whatever I do. The restlessness to beat myself just doesn’t die.
9. I do not care about what the society thinks of all my unconventional beliefs. I don’t believe in complying with any standards that are considered societal/familial norms.
My simple philosophy: You should never explain/justify to others why you do something: you do those things because you believe in them. The society can go get a life (or death, if it so pleases); I don’t care even 2 hoots. I believe in liberation—of thoughts, of action, of mind, of body, of soul—everything. I don’t think something is “wrong” only if it is defined by the silly and self-appointed society to be
“morally wrong”. To hell with such a society! I feel no pangs of conscience in breaking the self-styled moral code imposed by the extremely stupid society around. I believe in my gut.
I do crazy and outrageous things simply because they feel right. This philosophy has always worked. I have not, even for a second, regretted any of my choices.
10. I am a very quick decision-maker and am also someone who has nothing to do with either the good or the bad past. I can very quickly forget the bad past as if it never happened.
I can easily look ahead. I have never taken even 5 minutes to make various choices in life. All my choices are instantaneous (based on gut, not on data).
11. I think “Education” imparted at most places in India (Schools, Colleges, Universities, Training Centers etc.) is worse than a joke—a complete antithesis of what we need to succeed in life. Most people in India are unemployable, even if they are employed. This explains a risk-averse, non-entrepreneurial nation full of prejudices and mediocrity. We totally lack excellence as a way of life.
141 12. I am driven by the ability to be creative in every single thing
I do. I cannot exist even for 5 minutes in any job/profession that does not let me think out of the box. If I take up a project, I live, talk, and breathe only my project until I am completely satisfied. I am fully (personally, emotionally, and intellectually) invested in the task at hand.
13. I believe that money should be an offshoot of whatever you do and not a driver. The driver must be a purpose larger than yourself – to impact and change lives. I believe in the 10000-hour rule as laid out by Malcolm Gladwell in his book
“Outliers”. If you genuinely invest 10000 (absolutely dedicated, passionate, and committed) hours of Deliberate Practice in developing a skill, you can surely achieve the
“best-in-the-world-at-that-skill” status.
14. Three nouns that describe me perfectly are: Passion, Rebellion, and Wit. Five adjectives that describe me are:
Imperfect, Naughty, Crazy, Liberated, and Entrepreneurial.
There must be countless funny bones in my body. I can definitely make you LAUGH. I’m fiery, fearless, and fun (in the reverse order).
15. My life’s mission: To help YOU lead a Top-One-Percent, freaking awesome, absolutely insane, and super-kickass life loaded with more money, more time, and more impact.
What is your list of a few such statements that you believe in?
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